


Cross-Shaped Mark

by Prussian Joltik (Twilight_Joltik)



Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: Alcohol, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, And this ship is kinda small so I figured might as well give them the old classic right, I had to write one of these eventually okay, M/M, One Shot, So stop me if you've heard this one before two dorks walk into a bar, Soulmate-Identifying Marks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-03
Updated: 2016-08-03
Packaged: 2018-07-29 00:56:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 702
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7664008
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Twilight_Joltik/pseuds/Prussian%20Joltik
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Vladimir finds himself seated next to a cute blond with a cross-shaped hairpin at a bar. Things quickly go downhill from there.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Cross-Shaped Mark

“You know, I’ve always hated the idea of soulmates.”

 

The man sitting beside him at the bar, with greasy blond hair and the most disinterested expression he’d ever seen, just blurted that out. A thing that, had it not been absurdly loud in there, could have gotten him arrested. Vladimir figured he’d probably had a few drinks; people didn’t just say things like that. 

 

Well, sure, he’d thought it, he’d thought it a lot, but not even on the courage of an entire barrel of liquor would he say it aloud. 

 

Perhaps that’s what made him lean in closer, made him desperately want to know why, know how he’d reached that conclusion so firmly he could say it like it was nothing more weighty than hating hot weather or carrots. 

 

He was given a sideways smirk as he came closer. “It just seems… wrong somehow, doesn’t it? Like a ploy, a way to distract us all with the prospect of a Pure and Unbreakable Love, to say that our complaints with how the world works are pointless because destiny mandates that we have true love and joy.”

 

Everything Vladimir had ever been told said to swallow back that feeling, to just tell him he was wrong and alert authorities or whatever. But he’d never listen to that, because those thoughts sounded like they’d been birthed straight from his mind as it drifted off to sleep at night. 

 

Just hearing he wasn’t alone gave him more courage than all the alcohol in the world could. And so he nodded and said something that could easily get him locked up: 

 

“I agree. And it didn’t used to be like that, right? I’ve read old books, it’s not mentioned anywhere, not even in romance novels.”

 

The man beside him smiled slightly as he stirred his drink, and then turned towards him. “So tell me this: does it matter?”

 

“P-pardon?”

 

“Most people seem content, so why is it that the system being unnatural would matter?”

 

His heart began to beat quickly. He sounded like a professor when he asked it, like he expected a five-page essay that’d gone through three drafts and had a concise thesis in response. 

 

But then he remembered Elizaveta, remembered how she’d used to actually smile before that mark showed up on her wrist. How he wanted to tell her to get out, but she’d just say with a broken smile that of course things would work out; she was with her soulmate, they had to. 

 

“Of course it matters!”, he proclaimed, loudly, way too loudly, as in people were staring at him loudly. So he waited for a moment for all the eyes to drift back to their glasses and continued, much softer. “I mean, it makes people feel… trapped. Like they have no choice but to be happy. Like if their ‘soulmate’ isn’t making them happy, it’s their fault.”

 

The man replied with a nod that made the faint light bounce off a silver, cross-shaped hairpin. It was slight, but felt like getting a paper with full marks back from a professor. 

 

“I like how you think,” he replied, reaching for something in a breast pocket, and it looked like he was going to say more, but the door creaked open and his eyes were caught by a blond man with thick eyebrows who stumbled into the bar. 

 

And he got up and shook his head. “I need to speak with someone, but please, I’d love to speak with you more. We need passion like that.”

 

As the man left, Vladimir noticed he’d left behind a slip of paper with a few things written on it. An address and a name; Lukas Bondevik. Neither of those things were able to hold his attention as he picked it up and his eyes fell onto his own wrist. 

 

There was a black, cross-shaped mark there where he was certain there had been none before. 

 

A cold feeling filled his throat and a warm one filled his chest, mixing to the point he was certain he was going to be sick. And dammit, he’d really liked that guy, but the defiance in the pit of his stomach made him want to hate him.  

**Author's Note:**

> Honestly I've been sitting on this concept since I wrote for Smash Bros and I am more than happy to bring back Rebel Leader Magic Trio. And I kept Hungary's soulmate vague on purpose, it isn't meant as an attack on any ship! So, thank you for reading~!


End file.
